When Las Vegas-based International Gaming Technology (IGT) needed a solution to manage its fleet of 1,300-plus technicians who service more than a hundred thousand lottery retailers and gaming operators throughout the U.S., the company turned to their Sprint Business account manager, who pulled together a team to review IGT’s systems, processes and business objectives before recommending the Spireon FL7 fleet management system.

The challenge was finding a solution that would work seamlessly with the mobility tool it already had in place. A successful marriage of the two technologies would help IGT technicians operate their vehicles safely and efficiently, and make sure customers are serviced at the highest level.

Since implementing the technology in spring 2015, IGT has seen enormous and measurable benefits from the Sprint-Spireon fleet management solution. Tangible ROI from the solution resulted in a 6 percent reduction in fuel consumption and a 28 percent reduction in preventable accidents.

IGT points to three key areas in which it has benefited from FleetLocate: reducing idle time, improving safety, and an improved ability to meet service-level agreements (SLAs).

Idle time

Drivers working in chilly states like Minnesota and Wisconsin tend to keep the heat on in their vehicles while servicing customers. Drivers in warm states like California and Arizona keep the AC running. IGT found every minute a vehicle idles, it wastes fuel and increases costs to the company.

With instant alerts to IGT’s fleet managers and customized reports created by Spireon, IGT can identify which drivers are idling too much, allowing the company to have conversations with technicians on how they can become more efficient.

These conversations have resulted in the company having major reduction in fuel consumption (6 percent), according to Chris Costanza, senior director of field services for IGT. He said this is a significant savings for a business with a fleet this size.

“By putting in certain measures and reminders for the technicians, we were able to see an impact with idle time,” Costanza said. “These folks are now turning their vehicles off and getting in and out of the service locations more quickly. We are capturing this information specific to gas consumption.”

Safety

Safe driving also translates into saved dollars for IGT. When technicians drive safely they get in less accidents and there is less wear and tear on their vehicles. Less accidents means fewer repairs, fewer new vehicle purchases and reductions in insurance premiums.

With the FleetLocate solution integrated with IGT’s internal systems, IGT supervisors are alerted when technicians drive at unsafe speeds, with certain situations escalated up to the manager level.

Since rolling out the Sprint-Spireon technology to its fleet in March and April of 2015, IGT has seen a 28 percent reduction in preventable accidents and a 22 percent reduction in non-preventable accidents.

“Once we put our specific processes and procedures in place, we noticed a reduction in accidents from the inception,” said Costanza. “I believe strongly that this ties in to the easy-to-use FleetLocate web tool.”

The technology helps keep employees safe with its seatbelt alerts. In addition, the technicians’ driving speed is being monitored. That’s creating a “safety-first” culture.

“When an employee gets in their vehicle, they are more conscientious about their surroundings,” Costanza said. “With the tool in place, it serves as a daily reminder that vehicle safety is key.”

SLAs

IGT has extremely tight service-level agreements. In some cases, if a lottery terminal is down and tickets are not being sold for a period as short as 60 minutes, liquidated damages begin to accumulate.

Sprint-Spireon technology allows IGT managers to view the locations of the company’s vehicles and dispatch them quickly to the retailer whose lottery terminal is down.

Since integrating Spireon’s GPS technology with its internal tool, IGT’s field service technicians are being routed in a more efficient fashion, said Costanza.

The one-hour response time can be particularly challenging in most major cities, but it’s a challenge IGT meets. Costanza said he’ll never forget a comment made to him from a top executive about the company’s service in Manhattan – “You folks respond to retailer locations quicker than paramedics and ambulances do here.”

While IGT had already placed an emphasis on responding to down calls, Costanza said “adopting this tool and putting it into our vehicles has made it that much better.”

Compliance

The FleetLocate solution is a simple tool to assist compliance for businesses who employ drivers. It helps ensure fleets are compliant by tracking Hours of Service (HOS), simplifying the administration of the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), and assisting drivers in conducting Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR). It also enables fleets to meet the requirements of the federal electronic logging device (ELD) mandate which goes into effect this December 2017 and requires electronic devices, instead of paper logs to track driver’s hours of service.

The FleetLocate device is easy to install and operate – it plugs straight into an on-board diagnostics II (OBDII) port, and drivers’ hours are electronically logged and displayed on a tablet.

Clients can also set up parameters for driver behavior including speed, hard turns, gear usage, etc.

“From a cost perspective, when you look at ROI, the tool is paying dividends. We look forward to adding other features this tool may offer down the road,” Costanza said.

To learn more about how Sprint Business solutions like Spireon’s connected vehicle product can empower your business to make faster and smarter decisions, visit www.sprint.com/truckersb2b.

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